Opinion

​In order to make better educational use of the wide geographical and disciplinary reach of this HPS&ST Note, invitations are extended for readers to contribute opinion pieces about any aspect of the past, present or future of HPS&ST studies.​Such pieces can be sent direct to editor. Ideally they might be pieces that are already on the web, in which case a few sentences introduction, with link to web site can be sent. If not on the web they will be placed there with a link.

Dhyaneswaran Palanichamy & Bruce V. Lewenstein, School of Biology, Cornell University, USA "Teaching research integrity – Using history and philosophy of science to introduce ideas about the ambiguity of research practice"Text available HERE

Frederick Grinnell,Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center "Teaching research integrity – Using history and philosophy of science to introduce ideas about the ambiguity of research practice"Text available HERE

Aaron E. Carroll, Indiana University School of Medicine, USA "Creeping Bias in Research: Negative Results Are Glossed Over"Text available HERE Source: New York Times, 24 September 2018

Michael Matthews, School of Education, University of New South Wales "Mario Bunge’s 99th Birthday"​ Text available HERE

Nicholas Maxwell, Philosophy Department, University College London "The Crisis of Our Times, and What to Do about It"Text available HERE

Eric Scerri,Dept. of Chemistry, UCLA, USA "Bringing Science Down to Earth"* Text available HERE *Originally published in The Los Angeles Times on February 20th, 2017.Robert Nola, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Auckland "Fake News in the Post-Truth World"*​ Text available HERE * Originally published in The New Zealand Herald on December 26, 2016.

The article linked below details the outcomes of teaching philosophy in Australian primary (elementary) and secondary schools. This is a relatively new initiative with encouraging results for student performance in other school subjects and specifically in the highly politicized National Assessment Programme for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).

Matthew Stanley, New York University: "Why Should Physicists Study History?"

Abstract: Some things about physics aren’t well covered in a physics education. Those are the messy, rough edges that make everything difficult: dealing with people, singly or in groups; misunderstandings; rivals and even allies who won’t fall in line. Physicists often do not see such issues as contributing to science itself. But social interactions really do influence what scientists produce. Often physicists learn that lesson the hard way. Instead, they could equip themselves for the actual collaborative world, not the idealized solitary one that has never existed. History can help. An entire academic discipline—history of science—studies the rough edges.

We historians of science see ourselves as illustrating the power of stories. How a community tells its history changes the way it thinks about itself. A historical perspective on science can help physicists understand what is going on when they practice their craft, and it provides numerous tools that are useful for physicists themselves. History of science exposes scientists to new ways of thinking and forces them to re-examine what is already known. Such intellectual flexibility is essential for any discipline, but it is particularly important for fields as influential and authoritative as physics and other sciences. How do we know what we know, and how might it be otherwise?​Full text in Physics Today (2016, vol.69, no.7): HERE

Abstract: This article reviews literature from academic and other sources on problems in mathematics education for North American school grades K-12. It is shown that, especially for the critical grades K-6, the dominant educators’ ideas are controversial, being subject to strong criticism by other educators, by mathematicians, by cognitive psychologists, and by other concerned professionals. This extends to characterization of the subject matter of mathematics as well as to both curriculum and teaching practices. Aspects of the Ministry of Ontario’s curriculum and advisory literature are discussed. The author concludes that, in view of Ontario school childrens’ poorshowing on international tests, detailed reviews of curriculum structure, of textbooks, of teaching practices and of evaluation methods are all needed. Two recent critiques of U.S. mathematics education are used to suggest a path for reform.